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The Were Library
The Were Library is a massive index of therian-related writings and resources on the internet and also hosts a few essays of its own. It was created by Meirya in 2004/2005 and is now run by Aethyriek, the current curator who had taken over in 2007. It is a resource for those new to the concept of therianthropy, as well as long-time community members. It contains writing from therians and non-therians alike on every variety of topic. On occasion, the WereLibrary is mistaken for the Werelist, though the two are drastically different. The index is divided into three larger sections (Essays, Stories, and Poetry), each with their own categories. Essays General General essays included rants and work deemed outdated by the manager, or authors themselves, the General category contains work with no main focus, or a focus which is not specific to another category. It is thus the largest and most diverse section of the library. The section includes topics such as psychology, satire, and common stereotypes and misconceptions, as well as many more miscellaneous topics. There are three sub-categories in General: Rants, Outdated Work, and what is affectionately called Miscellaneous Opossum Food. Newcomers & Awakening This category contains essays directed towards people new to therianthropy and the therianthropic community. It indexes specifically many definitions geared towards newcomers and a number of essays with helpful hints for people who feel they may be a therian. Definitions The catagory specifically caters to definitions of many terms related to therianthropy, including various forms of therianthropy, common terms, werenames, and otherkin. Shifting This category includes definitions of shifting, and methods of shifting. It is also open to the nature of shifting, various theories, and how work with shifting itself can be effective. It is not however, where shifting experiences are listed. Theriotypes Theriotypes contains essays on the nature of theriotypes, what it is to be a certain animal, and advice on discovering and pinpointing what theriotype a therian may have. Community Essays, insight, and sometimes rants dealing with the therianthropic community and various aspects of it are in this category. Stories Anything that does not have a specific focus or controlling idea is often considered a story, in particular, accounts of experiences. There are two categories, Experiences & Journeys and Fiction. Experiences & Journeys Includes personal stories, awakening accounts, and depictions of experiencing the animal within, sometimes overlapping with Theriotypes. Fiction Various fiction relating to therianthropy and usually written by therians is in this category. This includes things such as retelling of myth, and tales of werecreatures. Poetry There is only the Mixed category in poetry, containing all kinds of poetry, due to a relative lack of poetry submissions compared to the other genres. =History= The Were Library has long been providing a resource to the public, indexing all, or most, therianthropy related writing. Unfortunately, by late 2007 it had fallen into disrepair. In 2016, the Werelibrary was put back online and updated. Today, the Were Library is actively updated once more, containing over one hundreds essays, narratives, and poems. It also maintains an often updated listing of other resources and personal websites. The Were Library Challenge The Were Library Challenge began in June 2008 as a means to promote writing within the therian community and at the same time encourage more rarely discussed topics, such as satire, poetry, and experiences from non-predatory therianthropes etc. It was also designed to help encourage more shy artists to break down personal boundaries and share their work. The first Challenge participant to ever successfully submit a work was Façade with the satirical article, Where the Hell Am I? Rules There are only three rules for participants of the challenge, though they are apparently rather lenient. # The writing should be as grammatically correct as possible. # The writing should be reasonable and understandable. # Submit any works done by the deadline. =Notable Contributers= There are a number of notable people who have helped index and summarize essays, and otherwise offer support in various forms. *Meirya (founder) *Madd *Katie/ Nousagi *Tawn-Cherie (former manager) =External links= *The WereLibrary Category:Active Websites Category:Educational